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Talk:Muswell Hill railway station

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Plague pit

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In Terry Deary's Horrible History book 'Loathsome London' a brief Did You Know section describes Muswell Hill station as one that never opened or even completed because the diggers came across a deep pit filled with plague victim remains. Because of their superstitious nature they refused to complete the tunnel.

I can't find citation for it anywhere, yet it's in this book. oddness. Can anyone shed any light? It's late here and I need to go to bed. Lady BlahDeBlah 23:13, 19 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry to come snapping back with a reply so fast that it's almost a blur ... I fear that the HH book was researched on Wikipedia! This plague pit story was around here for a while, perhaps in the main Muswell Hill article. It's a great story but sadly it's hogwash; this line involved no serious digging at all. The station is just on a hillside; the nearest tunnel isn't even on the line referred to here but is at Highgate. Muswell Hill station was indeed opened and completed, and operated for about 80 years, so the book blatantly got that bit wrong. I hope you haven't spent every day since 19/07/2006 looking for a reference for this tale ... :) Cheers DBaK (talk) 00:56, 13 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
WP:CIRCULAR in action, see also the xkcd link at WP:IRS#External links. --Redrose64 (talk) 10:50, 13 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yes indeed! And thanks for the xkcd link too. DBaK (talk) 20:52, 14 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks guys. ^^ I thought this might be the case. My copy of the book is currently about 200 miles away from me, so while I've no idea what date that book was first published O.o I suppose Deary, writing for children, bent the truth somewhat to engage their (my!) imaginations a little more. And DBaK, fear not, I haven't been festering over this for seven years!! Lady BlahDeBlah 16:08, 7 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]